NEWS: Blair on surprise Baghdad visit

Ahead of, and no doubt hoping to give more credibility to, the upcoming elections in Iraq Tony Blair has arrived in Baghdad for a surprise visit. Meeting Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi at Baghdad airport, Mr. Blair was then transported to the city in a military helicopter under heavy guard. Whereas no word of George Bush's 2003 Thanksgiving visit was released until after the visit was over, the news blackout only lasted until Mr. Blairs arrival.



Coming so soon after President Bush admits Iraq bombers' impact this is obviously an attempt to try and show continued determination and support for his decision over Iraq despite the questions over Iraq that still echo at home for Mr. Blair. Perhaps even Baghdad provides respite from Mr Blairs troubles and the worries over his own election prospects.




[edit on 21/12/04 by JAK]

[edit on 12-21-2004 by Zion Mainframe]

[edit on 12-21-2004 by Zion Mainframe]

Did you hear the question by a journalist when he asked Him howcome even when you say that improovements are being made daily on secuirity and the whole of Iraq's airspace is under control..;You still had to fly in secretly....something like that...

It was a good question,as he said himself...
While watching it..a thought came to mind;I wondered if bush decided to pull out and let the British handle Iraq..the whole transition to a democracy and so forth...The British are Highly repected in the whole region...remember the movie 'Lawrence Of Arabia'.. what a film..
'Thy Mother Mated with the Devil' my all time favourite one liner...




Where was I ...Oh ..America going OUT & Britian running the ...there would be definately Less terror in Iraq I bet my life on it..hell I would even consider volonteering to work there..

Reporter's log: Blair in Iraq Travelling with Tony Blair to Iraq, the BBC's James Landale has the latest on the prime minister's surprise visit. 21 December;The amount of security surrounding the prime minister on this trip is absolutely phenomenal.I've been on a fair few of these tours and the security is by far the tightest that I have ever seen. When we got to Baghdad this morning, we weren't even allowed to report until a few moments before the prime minister stood up to speak at the press conference.Effectively an almost 24-hour news blackout - that is unheard of.

news.bbc.co.uk...

So this is how it works when the prime minister goes to the Middle East these days. We all get on a plane at Heathrow but we do not know where we are going. We think we may be going to Jordan but officially no one will say. We think we may then be going onto Iraq, but even if we did know that for certain we couldn't report it.